Ryurik Ivnev
Encyclopedia
Rurik Ivnev was a Russian
poet
, novelist and translator.
). His father, A. S. Kovalyov, a captain of a Russian army. The children (Mikhail had an elder brother, Nikolai) had been brought up by their mother, A. P. Kovalyova-Prince. Among her ancestors was a Dutch count, who arrived in Russia
with Peter I
. After the death of their father in 1894, the family moved to Kars
, where their mother obtained the position of principal in an all-girls secondary school. At the insistence of their mother, the sons entered the Tiflis Military School, where Mikhail studied from 1900 through 1908. Upon graduating from the school, Mikhail thought better of a military career and headed to St. Petersburg, where he became a student at the Law Department of the St. Petersburg University. In 1912 he was forced to leave St. Petersburg University and moved to Moscow
to continue his education. In 1913 he graduated from Moscow University with a law diploma and returned to St. Petersburg, where he began his service at the office of government control.
and received his unfavorable opinion. Another two poems were published in 1912 in the Bolshevik
newspaper Iskra. Soon, Mikhail, together with Vadim Shershenevich
, Konstantin Olimpov
and Vasilisk Gnedov
, joined the Ego-Futurist movement and became a frequent contributor to Ego-Futurist almanacs published by Peterburgskiy Glashatay, Tsentrifuga and Mezzanin poezii. In 1913 his first book of poems, Self-immolation, was published.
Mikhail Kovalyov became Rurik
Ivnev. The poet himself said that this pseudonym was dreamed up in his sleep on the day before the print of Self-immolation. The book brought the young poet a great reputation. He became a frequent visitor to St. Petersburg literary salons where he met with Dmitry Merezhkovsky
, Zinaida Gippius
, Mikhail Kuzmin
, Nikolay Gumilyov
, Anna Akhmatova
, Fyodor Sologub
and Vladimir Mayakovsky
.
, Rurik Ivnev, now in Moscow, joined a new poetic trend, Imaginism
, with which he was mainly associated in the 1920s. In 1925 Ivnev visited Germany
, then worked in Vladivostok at the Knizhnoe delo publishing house. In 1927 he visited Japan
. In the second half of the 1920s Rurik Ivnev published an epic trilogy, The Life of an Actress, which contained the novels Love without the love (1925), The Open House (1927) and The Hero of Novel (1928).
and translated Georgian poetry. In 1950 he returned to Moscow.
After the Stalinist era came to an end, he worked on his memoirs. He died four days before his ninetieth birthday.
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, novelist and translator.
Early years
Rurik Ivnev was born into a nobleman's family in Tiflis (TbilisiTbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
). His father, A. S. Kovalyov, a captain of a Russian army. The children (Mikhail had an elder brother, Nikolai) had been brought up by their mother, A. P. Kovalyova-Prince. Among her ancestors was a Dutch count, who arrived in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
with Peter I
Peter I of Russia
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...
. After the death of their father in 1894, the family moved to Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
, where their mother obtained the position of principal in an all-girls secondary school. At the insistence of their mother, the sons entered the Tiflis Military School, where Mikhail studied from 1900 through 1908. Upon graduating from the school, Mikhail thought better of a military career and headed to St. Petersburg, where he became a student at the Law Department of the St. Petersburg University. In 1912 he was forced to leave St. Petersburg University and moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to continue his education. In 1913 he graduated from Moscow University with a law diploma and returned to St. Petersburg, where he began his service at the office of government control.
Literary Career: Ego-Futurist
Rurik Ivnev's first attempts at poetry date from 1904. His first publication was the poem Our Days in a 1909 student almanac that came out in Vyshny Volochek. Two years later he showed his poems and prose to Alexander BlokAlexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok was a Russian lyrical poet.-Life and career:Blok was born in Saint Petersburg, into a sophisticated and intellectual family. Some of his relatives were literary men, his father being a law professor in Warsaw, and his maternal grandfather the rector of Saint Petersburg...
and received his unfavorable opinion. Another two poems were published in 1912 in the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
newspaper Iskra. Soon, Mikhail, together with Vadim Shershenevich
Vadim Shershenevich
Vadim Gabrielevich Shershenevich was a Russian poet.-Earlier years:Shershenevich was born in Kazan, Russia on 25 January 1893 . He was the son of professor of Law Gabriel Feliksovich Shershenevich, a Polish national and a deputy of the first State Duma from the Constitutional Democratic party and...
, Konstantin Olimpov
Konstantin Olimpov
Konstantin Konstantinovich Olimpov Real name Konstantin Konstantinovich Fofanov...
and Vasilisk Gnedov
Vasilisk Gnedov
Vasilisk Gnedov was one of the most radically experimental poets of Russian Futurism, though not as prolific as his peers.Gnedov is chiefly known for his Poem of the End, which consisted of its title alone on a blank page, and which the poet performed on stage using a silent gesture...
, joined the Ego-Futurist movement and became a frequent contributor to Ego-Futurist almanacs published by Peterburgskiy Glashatay, Tsentrifuga and Mezzanin poezii. In 1913 his first book of poems, Self-immolation, was published.
Mikhail Kovalyov became Rurik
Rurik
Rurik, or Riurik , was a semilegendary 9th-century Varangian who founded the Rurik dynasty which ruled Kievan Rus and later some of its successor states, most notably the Tsardom of Russia, until 1598....
Ivnev. The poet himself said that this pseudonym was dreamed up in his sleep on the day before the print of Self-immolation. The book brought the young poet a great reputation. He became a frequent visitor to St. Petersburg literary salons where he met with Dmitry Merezhkovsky
Dmitry Merezhkovsky
Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky, , 1865, St Petersburg – December 9, 1941, Paris) was a Russian novelist, poet, religious thinker, and literary critic. A seminal figure of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, regarded as a co-founder of the Symbolist movement, Merezhkovsky – with his poet wife Zinaida...
, Zinaida Gippius
Zinaida Gippius
Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius, was a Russian poet, playwright, editor, short story writer and religious thinker, regarded as a co-founder of Russian symbolism and seen as "one of the most enigmatic and intelligent women of her time in Russia"....
, Mikhail Kuzmin
Mikhail Kuzmin
Mikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin was a Russian poet, musician and novelist, a prominent contributor to the Silver Age of Russian Poetry.Born into a noble family in Yaroslavl, Kuzmin grew up in St. Petersburg and studied music at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov...
, Nikolay Gumilyov
Nikolay Gumilyov
Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilev was an influential Russian poet who founded the acmeism movement.-Early life and poems:Nikolai was born in the town of Kronstadt on Kotlin Island, into the family of Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilev , a naval physician, and Anna Ivanovna L'vova . His childhood nickname was...
, Anna Akhmatova
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
, Fyodor Sologub
Fyodor Sologub
Fyodor Sologub was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, playwright and essayist. He was the first writer to introduce the morbid, pessimistic elements characteristic of European fin de siècle literature and philosophy into Russian prose.-Early life:...
and Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
.
1920s: Imaginist
After the RevolutionRussian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, Rurik Ivnev, now in Moscow, joined a new poetic trend, Imaginism
Imaginism
Imaginism was a poetic flow inside Russian avant-garde which came about after the Revolution of 1917. It was founded in 1918 in Moscow by a group of poets including Anatoly Marienhof, Vadim Shershenevich, and Sergei Yesenin, who wanted to distance themselves from the Futurists; the name may have...
, with which he was mainly associated in the 1920s. In 1925 Ivnev visited Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, then worked in Vladivostok at the Knizhnoe delo publishing house. In 1927 he visited Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. In the second half of the 1920s Rurik Ivnev published an epic trilogy, The Life of an Actress, which contained the novels Love without the love (1925), The Open House (1927) and The Hero of Novel (1928).
Later Years
With increasing oppression from the Soviet authorities in 1930s and 1940s, Ivnev was reduced to earning his living through translations of foreign-language poetry and writing historical plays. In the late 1930s he worked on an autobiographical novel, At the Foot of Mtatsmindy. In the same period Ivnev began to work on another autobiographical novel, Bohemia, which he completed in the month before his death. At the time he lived in TbilisiTbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
and translated Georgian poetry. In 1950 he returned to Moscow.
After the Stalinist era came to an end, he worked on his memoirs. He died four days before his ninetieth birthday.